Portland, OR

Portland, OR Travel Guide

The Museum: During a 1998 reading at the Voodoo Museum in New Orleans, the concept of a museum dedicated to velvet paintings was discussed, and since then, Caren Anderson and Carl Baldwin, now museum co-owners, began collecting, opening the Velveteria in 2005.

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art resides in the trendy Pearl District and presents this 10-day festival that dates to 2003 and celebrates the global performing arts community. Actors, dancers, filmmakers, musicians, and more all descend on Portland.

Plenty of passersby walk by this tranquil sanctuary (which was built in 2000 atop a parking lot) without even noticing it’s there; one doesn’t expect to find a garden amid the concrete and bustle of Old Town.

An offbeat mix of students, progressive political activists, hippies, and young professionals inhabits this East Side neighborhood. Its main drag, Hawthorne Boulevard, is lined with teahouses, hemp shops, and vegetarian cafés.

Creations like a celery-spiked gin fizz and more than 200 spirits complement chef Jack Yoss’s seasonal New American bar snacks. These include a tasty chorizo burger with pickled shallots and a fried egg.

The Portland Opera is known for presenting not only supertitled operas but also Broadway shows on tour. Additionally, their creative and skillfully made scenery and costumes are rented by other opera companies.